The present invention provides a method for rapidly clearing a biological tissue. According to the present invention, provided is a method for clearing a biological tissue, including the steps of: infiltrating the biological tissue with water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomers before, during or after fixing the biological tissue with a fixative, wherein the water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomers include at least a water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomer having an ionically dissociable group; polymerizing the water-soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomers to form a hydrogel in the fixed biological tissue; and removing a lipid from the fixed biological tissue.

A dehydrated composition containing a particle encapsulating one or more microorganisms is provided. The composition is useful for controlling the release of the microorganisms following rehydration and propagation within the particle.

The present invention relates to an enzyme-catalyzed process for producing UDP-N-acetyl-α-D-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) from low-cost substrates uridine monophosphate and N-acetyl-D glucosamine in a single reaction mixture with immobilized or preferably co-immobilized enzymes. Uridine may be used as starting material instead of uridine monophosphate as well. Further, the process may be adapted to produce GlcNAcylated molecules and biomolecules including saccharides, particularly human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), proteins, peptides, glycoproteins, particularly antibodies, or glycopeptides, and bioconjugates, particularly carbohydrate conjugate vaccines and antibody-drug conjugates.

The present invention relates to an enzyme-catalyzed process for producing UDP-N-acetyl-α-D-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) from low-cost substrates uridine monophosphate and N-acetyl-D glucosamine in a single reaction mixture with immobilized or preferably co-immobilized enzymes. Uridine may be used as starting material instead of uridine monophosphate as well. Further, the process may be adapted to produce GlcNAcylated molecules and biomolecules including saccharides, particularly human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), proteins, peptides, glycoproteins, particularly antibodies, or glycopeptides, and bioconjugates, particularly carbohydrate conjugate vaccines and antibody-drug conjugates.

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods of fixing and staining rare cells. Further, disclosed herein are methods of identifying circulating tumor cells (CTC). In some embodiments, the method includes: imaging a cell sample to identify a cell of interest; determining a first pixel intensity of a stained nuclear area; determining a second pixel intensity of a background area; calculating a ploidy status of the cell of interest by subtracting the second pixel intensity from the first pixel intensity; and determining whether the cell of interest is a CTC based on the ploidy status. The method may be computer implemented, such that the method uses a machine learning algorithm to identify a feature; process the feature to extract a parameter of interest; analyze the parameter of interest; and when the parameter of interest is greater than or less than a predetermined threshold, classify the cell of interest as a CTC.

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods of fixing and staining rare cells. Further, disclosed herein are methods of identifying circulating tumor cells (CTC). In some embodiments, the method includes: imaging a cell sample to identify a cell of interest; determining a first pixel intensity of a stained nuclear area; determining a second pixel intensity of a background area; calculating a ploidy status of the cell of interest by subtracting the second pixel intensity from the first pixel intensity; and determining whether the cell of interest is a CTC based on the ploidy status. The method may be computer implemented, such that the method uses a machine learning algorithm to identify a feature; process the feature to extract a parameter of interest; analyze the parameter of interest; and when the parameter of interest is greater than or less than a predetermined threshold, classify the cell of interest as a CTC.

Disclosed are devices for determining an analyte concentration (e.g., glucose). The devices comprise a sensor configured to generate a signal associated with a concentration of an analyte and a sensing membrane located over the sensor. The sensing membrane comprises an enzyme layer, wherein the enzyme layer comprises an enzyme and a polymer comprising polyurethane and/or polyurea segments and one or more zwitterionic repeating units. The enzyme layer protects the enzyme and prevents it from leaching from the sensing membrane into a host or deactivating.

Disclosed are devices for determining an analyte concentration (e.g., glucose). The devices comprise a sensor configured to generate a signal associated with a concentration of an analyte and a sensing membrane located over the sensor. The sensing membrane comprises an enzyme layer, wherein the enzyme layer comprises an enzyme and a polymer comprising polyurethane and/or polyurea segments and one or more zwitterionic repeating units. The enzyme layer protects the enzyme and prevents it from leaching from the sensing membrane into a host or deactivating.

There are provided a cell culture substrate that enables efficient spheroid formation for cells and can form spheroids having a uniform size and an arbitrary shape at a high cell viability, a method for producing the cell culture substrate, and a method of producing spheroids in which the cell culture substrate is used and a cell viability inside of the spheroids is excellent. A cell culture substrate includes a substrate and a stimulus-responsive polymer coated on the substrate, wherein the stimulus-responsive polymer is a block copolymer having a water-insoluble block segment and a stimulus-responsive block segment, and the cell culture substrate includes the following two regions (A) and (B): (A) an island-shaped region having cell proliferation properties and stimulus responsiveness and having an area of 0.001 to 5 mm.sup.2; and (B) a region adjacent to the region (A) and having no cell proliferation properties.

There are provided a cell culture substrate that enables efficient spheroid formation for cells and can form spheroids having a uniform size and an arbitrary shape at a high cell viability, a method for producing the cell culture substrate, and a method of producing spheroids in which the cell culture substrate is used and a cell viability inside of the spheroids is excellent. A cell culture substrate includes a substrate and a stimulus-responsive polymer coated on the substrate, wherein the stimulus-responsive polymer is a block copolymer having a water-insoluble block segment and a stimulus-responsive block segment, and the cell culture substrate includes the following two regions (A) and (B): (A) an island-shaped region having cell proliferation properties and stimulus responsiveness and having an area of 0.001 to 5 mm.sup.2; and (B) a region adjacent to the region (A) and having no cell proliferation properties.